King's Lynn Stars 2027

[M.D]

1 hour ago, Bagpuss said:

Yep in 1985 Martin Rogers spent a few quid on Courtney and Paul Woods with neither signing working out. I think Lee made his comeback that year but only rode in less than half of the fixtures. Jessup, Hellsen, Jolly and Regeling made up the test of the team but nobody stepped up to replace John Louis who retired after the 1984 season. A team full of second strings which of course finished bottom.

Paul Woods tells a different story in an interview somewhere. Said he was promised bikes and when he turned up, no bikes so had to cobble a couple of bikes together, went from an 8.50 rider to a 4.50 rider in one fowl swoop.

[Youhave2minutes]

6 hours ago, Bagpuss said:

'86 was Schwartz. Richard Knight was in the same boat in 1987. 

 

Richard Knights boat 1987.

[YeOldPitGate]

15 hours ago, Bagpuss said:

Yep in 1985 Martin Rogers spent a few quid on Courtney and Paul Woods with neither signing working out. I think Lee made his comeback that year but only rode in less than half of the fixtures. Jessup, Hellsen, Jolly and Regeling made up the test of the team but nobody stepped up to replace John Louis who retired after the 1984 season. A team full of second strings which of course finished bottom.

Colin Pratt wanted us booted out of the league.

[YeOldPitGate]

14 hours ago, M.D said:

Paul Woods tells a different story in an interview somewhere. Said he was promised bikes and when he turned up, no bikes so had to cobble a couple of bikes together, went from an 8.50 rider to a 4.50 rider in one fowl swoop.

Martin Rogers was operating on a shoe string , Lee was a disaster , beat Erik Gunderson on his first race back but afterwards was missing half the time.

In Simmo's book he mentions when him and Bill took over the deal was they would essentially take on the clubs debts and Martin could walk away.

Martin came over as a decent bloke and the hard core crowd was always there even allowing for some dreadful teams in the mid eighties.

[MajorMauger]

Unfortunately these days King's Lynn's Saddlebow Road Stadium is more a car track than a speedway track. Indeed without stock cars its highly unlikely speedway would continue on its own.

The basic economics above mean that Buster will naturally prioritise the cars and hes kind of let the bikes "tread water, go through the motions" but due to his first sporting love being speedway he has always ensured the sports kept going there apart from the 1996 and covid seasons.

 

King's Lynn had a lot of criticism about this years team but they signed Fricke the Leagues top rider and Cooper Rushen one of the best youngsters on the planet.

 

As for the mid to late 1980's struggles, Martin Rogers took over the promotion from the stadium owners in 1983 when the Cranes and Littlechilds had got to a point of not wanting to subsidise the Stars any longer so cut their losses by making money from leasing it out to Rogers. The Rogers era was run on a tight budget that became a shoestring budget after a crippling 1985 season which meant that the 86 and 87 seasons were just about surviving which was a success in itself despite two woeful bottom finishes with weak teams. The 1984 team came 6th in the BL and was cheaper than the poor team that came bottom the following year. Rogers considered dropping into the NL around 86/87 but was shot down by fans who insisted they wanted top flight or nothing at all. 17 years later in 2003 Lynn finally dropped down and it was a breath of fresh air which gave the place fresh energy and atmosphere.

 

King's Lynn are long overdue a decent season seriously challenging which would help to increase enthusiasm levels but there will come a time in the next decade when someone will need to take over the reins from Buster Chapman who like him or loath him has done more than anyone to keep KL speedway going in the last 40 years so has earnt his retirement.

 

[YeOldPitGate]

2 minutes ago, MajorMauger said:

Unfortunately these days King's Lynn's Saddlebow Road Stadium is more a car track than a speedway track. Indeed without stock cars its highly unlikely speedway would continue on its own.

The basic economics above mean that Buster will naturally prioritise the cars and hes kind of let the bikes "tread water, go through the motions" but due to his first sporting love being speedway he has always ensured the sports kept going there apart from the 1996 and covid seasons.

 

King's Lynn had a lot of criticism about this years team but they signed Fricke the Leagues top rider and Cooper Rushen one of the best youngsters on the planet.

 

As for the mid to late 1980's struggles, Martin Rogers took over the promotion from the stadium owners in 1983 when the Cranes and Littlechilds had got to a point of not wanting to subsidise the Stars any longer so cut their losses by making money from leasing it out to Rogers. The Rogers era was run on a tight budget that became a shoestring budget after a crippling 1985 season which meant that the 86 and 87 seasons were just about surviving which was a success in itself despite two woeful bottom finishes with weak teams. The 1984 team came 6th in the BL and was cheaper than the poor team that came bottom the following year. Rogers considered dropping into the NL around 86/87 but was shot down by fans who insisted they wanted top flight or nothing at all. 17 years later in 2003 Lynn finally dropped down and it was a breath of fresh air which gave the place fresh energy and atmosphere.

 

King's Lynn are long overdue a decent season seriously challenging which would help to increase enthusiasm levels but there will come a time in the next decade when someone will need to take over the reins from Buster Chapman who like him or loath him has done more than anyone to keep KL speedway going in the last 40 years so has earnt his retirement.

 

Pretty much spot on the sickener was 1988 when we were probably favourites for the league with a power house team, I remember the opening meeting the place was rammed but roughly a third of the way into the season the usual Lynn jinx hit and we were bang average. Bo Peterson who cost a fortune went from unbeatable around Lynn to very beatable and dear old John Davis was better suited to longtrack he could gate with the best but would leave a gap on the inside you could sail the titanic through. King showed why he was so highly rated but a series of niggling injuries held him back after early promise.